USCCB - Global Poverty | Issues -International Assistance Reform

U.S. International Assistance Reform and our Catholic Response

What is the issue?

The United States’ international assistance program today is based on overlapping objectives, encompasses no unifying strategy and is poorly coordinated. The poorest countries in the world receive as little as one fourth of U.S. international assistance. Many assistance programs are designed with little input from the people who are supposed to benefit from them. Today, the more than 20 federal agencies that implement these programs have almost 50 different objectives, including some that are duplicative and others that are contradictory.

Taking a Moral Stand on the Budget

Taking a Moral Stand on the U.S. Budget: Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to common questions about U.S. international assistance and the Church’s position (4 pages)

Taking a Moral Stand on the U.S. Budget: Overview
Background information on U.S. international assistance as it relates to Catholic social teaching and the Church’s advocacy efforts (3 pages)

Taking a Moral Stand on the U.S. Budget: Stories of U.S. international assistance’s impact on our brothers and sisters worldwide
Articles that can be used for bulletins and newsletters about people potentially affected by cuts to poverty-focused international assistance (6 pages)

Chart of the what CRS/USCCB have identified as “poverty-focused international assistance accounts”
An overview of the various poverty-focused international assistance accounts supported by CRS and USCCB (1 page)

International Assistance
International assistance helps people live lives worthy of their dignity as human beings, made in God’s image and likeness. Bill O’Keefe, Director of Policy and Advocacy at Catholic Relief Services, talks about how Catholics can work to improve and increase international assistance, so that children of God across the world can lift themselves out of poverty.

How does international assistance affect real people?

Photo by Sean Sprague for CRS

As with many other developing nations, East Timor was colonized by foreign powers for 450 years, first by the Portuguese and then from1975 to 1999 by Indonesia. Before it officially gained independence on May 20, 2002, the East Timorese experienced systematic destruction, murder, burning of buildings, and general looting at the hands of pro-Indonesian militias.

The challenge for East Timor’s development towards a nonviolent and just society is to strengthen the capacity of communities and institutions to build a peaceful and democratic nation, which highlights good governance and economic recovery as the country realizes its full independence.

In countries such as East Timor, international assistance can make a huge difference. Domingas de Sousa (pictured above) of Baucau, East Timor, is participating in an innovative development project funded by U.S. international assistance that seeks to improve the quality of life for her and other candlenut farmers in her region.

These farmers, who have formed cooperatives, are receiving training on agricultural techniques, marketing and sales methods so that they can enhance and extract the full market value of their product and thereby secure a stable and growing source of income for these rural communities.